Thursday, 29 September 2016

This is an open letter to companies and individuals who may be in a posistion to support our school.

This
is the first time we are seeking assistance in this manner. However we
are currently in desperate need of funds to sustain all our programmes
at school.

Since we are a public school (classified among the richest schools in SA - Quintile 5),
we only receive limited suport from WCED. The fact of the matter is
that although we are classified as a Quintile 5 school, we are in fact
among the poorest schools in the country, due to the fact that we serve
the poor communities such as Khayelistha, Langa, Nyanga, Crossroads and
Woodstock to name a few. More than 90% of our learners live in the
black townships.

It is evident that most parents are
finding it diffucult to make ends meet. We can see this by the fact
that almost 50% of our learners receive meals via our feeding scheme.
The limited financial support we've received from parents during this
year further highlights this dilemma. So far less than 37% of school
fees and fund raising fees have been received for 2016.

Due to this our learners have not been using our computer lab
(that was vandalised during the 2015 December school holidays), since
the beginning of this year - because we just don't have the funds to do
the necessary repairs. In addition to this we need to do urgent repairs
to class rooms and our toilets.

We also need
volunteers who can offer an hour or two of their time to assist our
learners to improve their levels of literacy and numeracy.

Companies or individuals who would like to support us are welcome to contact us, via the contact details provided on this blog/ website.

Tuesday, 20 September 2016

Although I do not fully agree with all the arguments raised by Roxanne Henderson and Nic Spaull below, I do agree that the Quintile System is not fair, especially to those poor schools that fall in Quintiles 4 and 5.

Quintile system perpetuates school inequality‚ Equal Education says

Roxanne Henderson | 17 June, 2016 13:10

Schools in quintiles one to three receive more in government funds and often do not charge fees. File photo

The privatisation of education must fall so that the money of
South Africa's rich can filter through to poorer schools‚ advocacy
organisation Equal Education (EE) has said.

Speaking at its Teaching and Learning Summit on Friday‚ EE
secretary-general Tsepho Motsepe said that no public money should be
spent on private schools.“The Public Investment Corporation
(PIC)‚ and any other public entity that has invested in any private
schooling entity‚ should immediately withdraw such an investment‚” he
said.
“Profit-driven individuals or donors” should also refrain from pumping money into these already wealthy schools‚ Motsepe said.
The number of private schools in SA are on the rise‚ which Equal Education condemns.
Motsepe also said that the quintile system currently employed in SA's schools must be abolished.
The quintile system places schools into quintiles one to five‚ and subsidises them accordingly.
Schools in quintiles one to three receive more in government funds and often do not charge fees.
But‚
according to Motsepe‚ this system has perpetuated inequality in the
schooling system‚ with wealthier schools in quintiles four to five
attracting better teachers.
Traditionally‚ these schools are able to employ more teachers and offer them better salaries.
A new model is needed where middle-class parents paying school fees at top schools subsidise poor schools instead.
“We
have a responsibility to the poor. The poor continue to access poor
schools and are affected with youth unemployment‚” Motsepe said.

Education in SA – Still separate and unequal

Nic Spaull, an education researcher
in the Economics Department at Stellenbosch University, has the folowing to say:

When allocating funding to schools, the Department classifies them into
one of five categories called quintiles. Each quintile is meant to have
20% of schools ranging from Quintile 1 (the poorest 20% of schools) all
the way up to Quintile 5 (the richest 20% of schools). The funding allocations
are pro-poor with Quintile 1 schools receiving R905 per learner and
higher quintiles receiving progressively less funding all the way up to
Quintile 5 schools which receive R156 per learner.

Thursday, 25 February 2016

Hi
All.
(Mr Louw, our current Grade 7 educator, who joined the learners on the camp, sent this report:)

Day 1 went pretty well. There was one teacher per school. The
excitement built up as we were on our way and finally reached the camp
at about 11:15. We were all shown our dorms and put our belongings down
then went straight to the hall. Here Mr. Lappies spelt out the rules of
the camp and the kids were divided into 6 groups with 6 kids per group.
We then went to the beach where the kids played in the water a bit then
were asked to create a logo and song for their group (pics to follow
��).

Points in the form of beans were given to the winner and all other
teams. Dried beans are awarded as prizes and for courtesies done by
kids. Bean points will be added at the end of the camp and winners and
prizes will be chosen. This helped tremendously with the discipline of
the kids. No incidents to report to date and their behaviour has been
examplary. We then walked back to the camp.

We changed clothes and were
ready for the reptile show. It was really fascinating. We saw lizards,
frogs and lots of snakes both venomous and harmless. And oh yes the
albino python which weighed 45kg (still a baby) and was about 6.2m long.
We were allowed to touch most reptiles and some pics were taken. After a
short 10 min rest we went back to the beach area where the groups
competed with each other in a mini olympic games. Again beans were
awarded for the winner and subsequent teams.

At about 18:15 we enjoyed a
hearty supper. We had speghetti and mince, battered fish and pickled
(ingelegde) fish. After a short rest where kids had free time to play
ball games, after sunset we were back in the hall for a DVD show about
our environment. The last activity for the night was a night hike. It
was lights out soon after our return.

Day 2 holds more excitement with
an early start of about 6.00am ending off with group concert and poitjie
kos competitions ...

A group of 12 of our Grade 7 learners left yesterday morning on a free 3-day camp to Soetwater. They went with learners of Rahmaneyah and St. Mary's. This trip is sponsored by the Waterfront Rotary Club. Here are some photos of them leaving school: